COMMUNIST ORGANISER’S ADDRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27081, 16 May 1949, Page 6

COMMUNIST ORGANISER’S ADDRESS

. . Sir >—■l wonder if Comrade Wilcox told his audience that Stalin when he became master of Russia recognised, just as Lenin did. that British power and British justice represented the greatest obstacle to It i s P rea< l of Russian Communism,, and that the strength of Britain lay in the Commonwealth and Empire, and it therefore became a primary object oif Soviet policy to disrupt the British Empire-bv every possible means? Did he tell them that before the Revolution, Stalin had already written a treatise, “ The Colonial Problem.” in which he advanced the argument that it was the duty of Communists to stir up nationalist and separatist movements inside the Colonial/* Empire, not so much because such movements deserved support in themselves as because they would help to weaken those empires and so facilitate the spread of Communism? In other words, a new version of the ancient maxim, “ Divide and Rule. Stalin also elaborated the theme in his celebrated lectury, “ The Problems of Leninism.” in which he stated that the Nationalist movement in Egypt and Afghanistan deserved Communist support because, although antiCommunist themselves, they were nevertheless ** objectively revolutionary ” in the 5? nse - that they were working to disrupt the British Empire. Since Stalin delivered his lecture, the United States has to some extent superseded us as the main bulwark against Communist Imperialism. Nevertheless it is with British rather than American interests that the expansionist policies of the Soviet Union come into conflict. I congratulate the students for their loyalty, and 1 have not the slightest doubt that sufficient popular support to suppress Communist treachery would be forthcoming if we had a Government strong enough to merit that support. But we require a Government big enough to surrender minor political differences for the common good. Otherwise the menace to our Empire and the world will continue to thrive in our midst.—l am, etc., Matilda-